KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened marginally lower on Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, although buying interest in technology stocks helped cushion the decline.
Overnight, Wall Street ended lower as a decline in Nvidia shares following CEO Jensen Huang's exit outweighed gains in energy stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.36% to 52,297.09, the S&P 500 shed 0.35% to 7,592.40, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.39% to 25,366.09.
Locally, the benchmark FBM KLCI slipped 1.41 points, or 0.09%, to 1,584.55 at 9.16am. It opened 0.47 points lower at 1,585.49.
Among the decliners, Heineken Malaysia
fell 30 sen to RM13.58, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed 14 sen to RM21.24, PJBumi lost 13 sen to RM4.12, while Mentiga declined nine sen to RM1.06.
Technology-related stocks were among the top gainers, with PIE Industrial rising 14 sen to RM1.64, UWC gaining 11 sen to RM6.48 and ViTrox adding eight sen to RM10.18.
Elsewhere, Master-Pack Group climbed 13 sen to RM1.55, while Mega Fortris advanced eight sen to RM1.09.
Malacca Securities expects the local bourse to remain under pressure today, tracking Wall Street's overnight losses.
However, it said buying interest could emerge in brewery stocks Heineken Malaysia Bhd and Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd ahead of the year-end festivities and Chinese New Year, supported by stronger seasonal beer demand.
It added that a rebound in crude palm oil (CPO) prices could provide trading opportunities in plantation stocks such as Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, SD Guthrie Bhd and Johor Plantations Group Bhd.
The brokerage also favours 5E Resources, citing its newly operational Pasir Gudang facility, which has increased annual treatment and recycling capacity from 282,000 tonnes to more than 500,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, Berjaya Research Sdn Bhd said sentiment on the FBM KLCI is likely to remain cautious as investors assess the recent weakness in heavyweight stocks.
It said attention would turn to Malaysia's upcoming retail sales data for clues on the resilience of domestic consumption, alongside US producer price index (PPI) figures for further indications of inflationary pressures and the Federal Reserve's policy outlook.
“As the local bourse approaches oversold territory, potential bargain hunting could emerge over the near term.
“The immediate resistances are located at 1,600-1,616 points. Meanwhile, the immediate supports are now shifted to 1,580 points, followed by 1,576 points,” Berjaya Research said.
The research house said the broader market could see intermittent profit-taking, although trading activity may remain relatively active amid rotational interest in selected small- and mid-cap stocks.
It added that bargain hunting could emerge in selected oversold stocks.
